IMPACT OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND DEVELOPMENT ON BUILDINGS' ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Abstract

The urban heat island (UHI) is one of the major problems that urban areas are experiencing worldwide, as it is related to various environmental and health effects. One of them is its direct impact on buildings energy demand. This paper studies the impact of UHI on the energy consumed for heating and cooling two identical buildings that were assumed to be located in the centre and in a suburb of Volos, a medium-sized city located at the east coast of central Greece. Temperature data recorded in the city centre and a suburb during a winter and summer period were analyzed. An earlier study revealed that the UHI is mainly a nocturnal phenomenon in Volos. Therefore, as this paper studies the impact of UHI on energy consumption, night data were mainly used. It was found that UHI intensity reached 3.4 degrees C and 3.1 degrees C during winter and summer nights, respectively. Additionally, it is estimated that 58.430 KWh/m(2) and 67.737 KWh/m(2) were needed to heat the buildings located in the city centre and the suburb, respectively, during all winter nights. The cooling load during all summer nights is estimated to be equal to 2.136 KWh/m(2) and 1.125 KWh/m(2) for the buildings located in the city centre and the suburb, respectively. The peak loads were detected in January and August at both locations; a result that is verified by the frequency distributions of the hourly energy consumption that are also presented in this paper. Moreover, the study of the diurnal variation of energy consumption at both locations revealed that the difference in energy consumption is increased when the UHI develops.